Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (18 October 1919 – 28 September 2000) was Prime Minister of Canada from 20 April 1968 to 4 June 1979 (succeeding Lester B. Pearson and preceding Joe Clark) and from 3 March 1980 to 30 June 1984 (succeeding Clark and preceding John Turner). He was a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and he was the father of future Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Biography Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1919. He was educated at the Universities of Montreal and Harvard, and at the London School of Economics. On his return to Canada, he became a strong trade union supporter in the 1949 asbestos strike, which launched him as a social and political critic. A law professor at the University of Montreal, he welcomed the Quiet Revolution, though he firmly rejected the conclusion of many of his contemporaries that this should lead to Quebec's sovereignty. Instead, he advocated acknowledgement of Quebec's nationalism within Canadian society. He entered Parliament in 1965, and was soon appointed Parliamentary Secretary to Lester B. Pearson, before becoming Minister of Justice in 1967. In his brief period of office he liberalized laws on abortion and homosexuality, and became known as a strong supporter of federal rights against the particularist demands of Quebec. In 1968, he became leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, and Canada's second longest-serving, and perhaps most controversial, Prime Minister. In 1970, the Quebec Cabinet Minister Pierre Laporte was abducted and later killed by the terrorist FLQ. In response, Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act, with its controversial limits on personal freedoms. In an attempt to satisfy Quebec nationalism, he made French the second official language throughout Canada, triggering resentment within the western provinces, which began to feel that their concerns were being ignored because of the government's constant preoccupation with Quebec. From 1973, he tried to cope with Canada's economic difficulties caused by the world recession, but in 1976 his attention was again forced towards Quebec when the separate Parti Quebecois took over the provincial government there. He narrowly lost the 1979 elections and resigned as Liberal leader. Only three weeks later, Joe Clark's budget was defeated and a new election called, which Trudeau won. His successful intervention in the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty galvanized him into trying to solve Canada's constitutional status once and for all. He ended all the remaining judicial and legal prerogatives over Canadian affairs resting in London, and proclaimed a Charter of Rights and Freedoms. After protracted negotiations with the provincial governments, the Constitution Act was passed on 17 April 1982. However, the act was not ratified by Quebec, and thus served more to highlight than to solve the country's constitutional problems. Meanwhile, his economic policies failed to cope with high inflation and unemployment. In foreign policy, the advent of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher as the dominant Western leaders on the international scene pushed him into a role of irkstone opposition, advocating a north-south dialogue between industrialized and developing countries, as well as the reduction of nuclear arms. Increasingly unpopular in Canada from 1981, he resigned on 30 June 1984 to make way for John Turner. He retired from active politics, though he spoke in opposition to the Meech Lake Accord. He died in Montreal in 2000 at the age of 80. Category:1919 births Category:2000 deaths Category:Canadian prime ministers Category:Canadian politicians Category:Canadians Category:Prime ministers Category:Politicians Category:French-Canadians Category:Scottish-Canadians Category:Catholics Category:Liberal Party of Canada members Category:Canadian liberals Category:Liberals